Band of Theives
by Cyberguy
Summary: Chapter 8 now up! Theives v.s. the Sonic crew! Winner gets the Chaos Emerald! Don't miss this! Review review review!
1. Awakening

This is my first story on so yeah. R&R afterwards. Hope you enjoy and all that jazz.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, except for Arra, Crack, and Glide, Sega owns the rest.

G.U.N Maximum security prison.  
Location unknown  
Cell 185A  
7:00 AM

The fluorescent lights flickered on, casting an unnatural glow around the black metal cell. The light changed from white to an eerie green as it passed through the tinted glass of the stasis tube and cast its glow upon the prisoner. The lighting system was set to illuminate all the cells between 0700 and 1900 hours. This was done primarily for those prisoners listed as classes 1-3 that were allowed to serve out their sentences in consciousness. In this cell was a class 5 prisoner. This was printed on a metal plaque outside the door, along with the following:

Prisoner 185A Class 5  
Highly destructive.  
Door is not to be opened.  
May only be transferred to armored cells.  
Must never be in close proximity to prisoners 379B or 504C

The stasis tube the prisoner was encased in had been specially made with armored plating on the inside and reinforced glass in case the prisoner was to regain consciousness. If that were to happen, the brainwave monitor above the tube would react by setting off an alarm. The monitor was, as it had been doing for the past two years, showing the exact same levels of brain activity. But today was special. Today, the brain monitor showed a sudden spike in brain activity. These were usually common, caused by dreams. Only this particular prisoner had been sedated so that he would not dream.

G.U.N Maximum security prison  
Location unknown.  
Cell 379B  
7:13 AM

This cell was smaller. Much smaller. It had no space in the room save for the space taken up by the stasis tube in which this room's prisoner lay. This tube was, in turn, much smaller than the tubes in the other cells. The entire room had been designed to not allow the prisoner to move in any direction. Written on a similar plaque outside the door read:

Prisoner 379B Class 5  
Highly dangerous.  
Must be kept in confined cell. Door is not to be opened.  
Must never be in close proximity to prisoners 185A or 504C

A similar brain spike appeared on the monitor above the prisoner, and then another. They remained far enough apart to not set off the alarm, but they were getting closer together. The prisoner's hand clenched, almost reflexively. His legs began to move back and forth, restricted by the glass, back muscles flexed, armored plates slid over one another, and an eye flickered open as, for the first time in two years, the prisoner regained consciousness.

G.U.N Maximum security prison  
Location unknown  
Cell 504C  
7:16 AM

This was a standard cell, with no sort of modifications. The stasis tube stood in the center of the otherwise empty cell. This cell was, like the rest of the C level of the prison, underground. Level C was meant for those with tendencies to escape from their holdings. A metal plaque on the outside of the door read:

Prisoner 504C  
Highly dangerous.  
Keep underground.  
Must never be in close proximity to prisoners 185A or 379B

The prisoner was conscious and aware of his surroundings already. His eyes swept across the room and he saw nothing but the front of his prison. And even though this was the first time he had seen this cell, he did not look any further than the stasis tube he was in, more specifically, a wire running along the outside of the cell. He looked for the other end of the wire and, when he turned his head to look, immediately realized it was attached to the back of his neck. The prisoner spread his arms, and the gilled undersides along with them. He then flapped his arms and spun forward, causing the wire to painfully rip out of his neck. The monitor that had been showing various brain spikes immediately flat-lined. The prisoner looked up and listened to the prolonged beep of the monitor. He smiled and fell limp. All his vital signs had been monitored through the same wire. It wouldn't be long before those monitoring him thought him dead and would come to check on him.

He was right. Within minutes, the door slid open as three G.U.N personnel entered. He didn't move at all as one came forward to open the tube. The liquid that the prisoner had been floating in drained off as the glass slid forward and the G.U.N doctor prepared to check the pulse of the prisoner. He never got the chance. The prisoner opened his eyes and leapt forward over the doctor's head and then up the stasis tube itself. The two other G.U.N personnel, soldiers, took no hesitation in opening fire upon the escapee. The prisoner spread his gilled arms and leapt forward, flapping occaisinally as he flew around the room to avoid being shot. He then took the opportunity to strike while the soldiers reloaded, and flew upon them. He landed on one's shoulder and then kicked at the other's head, then leapt to the opposite shoulder and struck at the first soldier. He then flew out the door and down a dimly lit hallway.

He landed on the floor and began running until he saw something different amongst the black cell doors. A white one, without a locking mechanism. An elevator. The prisoner listened intently at the metal doors and he heard the elevator moving downwards. More soldiers. The doors began to slide open as he leapt upwards. Five men stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway. One of them, most likely the leader, looked down the hallway in both directions and then upwards before racing down the hallway with the others as the elevator doors closed.

The prisoner grunted in pain. He had gotten his tail caught in the doors when he climbed inside. He waited as the elevator rose to B level. It was time to repay a debt.


	2. Reunited

G.U.N. Maximum security prison.  
Location unknown.  
Level B  
7:26 AM

The white metal doors of the elevator slid aside as the prisoner, now a fugitive, clambered out the top and across the ceiling. Red lights began flashing along the hallway. The silent alarm had been triggered. It wouldn't be long until more soldiers came to recapture him. He looked down one hallway at a window. Freedom. Then he looked in the other direction at a much less welcoming section of the prison compound. And, despite his better judgment, he turned and began climbing along the ceiling away from the window. They had better be even after this.

G.U.N Maximum security prison  
Location unknown  
Cell 379B  
7:30 AM

Prisoner 379B had been, for the past ten minutes, attempting to break out of his stasis tube. He was, unfortunately, unable to do much of anything in such confined space. And, even more unfortunately, he felt he was becoming claustrophobic. He laid back against the glass, somewhat defeated. He had no way to escape before the soldiers came and he was sedated again. So he was not at all surprised when the lock on his cell door was undone and the black metal slid aside and a figure entered. And, even though it had been the last face he had seen before losing consciousness, he was still surprised to see, an older, but familiar face.

Prisoner 504C stepped into the room, or as much as you can when the room is little more than the doorway, and looked into the glass. He smiled at the irony of the situation, but then quickly and efficiently began to override the system and free Prisoner 379B. After a minute of failure, he eventually gave up and ripped the input pad out and tossed it aside. He stopped suddenly as he heard a weapon cock behind his head.

He turned around, slowly. He would have sighed, had he not a gun in his face. There was only one soldier present. He looked back up at the soldier and grinned before leaping up in the air and breaking the soldier's jaw against his foot. Once pain had knocked out the soldier, Prisoner 504C efficiently searched his person. After about a minute or so, he slammed his fist against the ground, having found nothing useful. Then he saw, out of the corner of his eye, the gun that had been aimed at him only moments ago. He shrugged and went over to get it. He lifted it onto his shoulder awkwardly. He never liked guns. Too unpredictable. Too much like him. He chose to put his anti-gun policies on hold as he fired into the computer system three shots. A red light turned green as the glass opened and the liquid drained out.

Prisoner 379B was about to get out, when he felt a slight tug at his neck that stopped him. Prisoner 504C noticed this and rolled his eyes. He climbed into the stasis tube and, without any kind of tact whatsoever, ripped the cable out of the other's neck. Prisoner 379B winced in pain and narrowed his eyes at Prisoner 504C. The two jumped out of the tube and into the hallway. Prisoner 379B looked up and down the hall. Prisoner 504 looked to the other prisoner and smirked. "We're even now, aren't we?"

Prisoner 379B didn't respond and simply bolted down the hallway, now a hazel blur. Prisoner 504C laughed as he ran to keep up "You know we're even now! Yeah!"

G.U.N Maximum security prison

Location unknown

Cell 185A

7:40 AM

Prisoner 185A had had no success in escaping from his stasis tube in the past twenty minutes. Although one couldn't say he didn't try. He had been ramming his head into the glass repeatedly, although to no such avail. He was not nearly as calm as prisoners 379B or 504C had been. He was angry, reckless, and unfocused. Today in particular. He was still ramming himself into the glass when his cell was opened and two figures stepped inside. He couldn't have made them out even if he wasn't thrashing around. His reinforced glass was also one-way. One figure typed something into the stasis tube's access panel and stood back as the door opened. This was enough to cause Prisoner 185A to stop. He looked forward and saw the exact same thing he had seen before he had been sedated the first time. There were two G.U.N doctors with syringes, preparing to sedate him physically before locking him up again. Prisoner 185A grunted. He wasn't one to be beaten by anybody twice.

The prisoner lowered his head and leapt forward at the doctors. More than one thing cracked as the three collided. The door had already closed, trapping the prisoner inside the cell. The door, like the rest of the cell, was plated with super-reinforced armor. It could survive up to a megaton explosion force. The prisoner lowered his head and backed up. He raced forward, ramming his head into the door. It dented. This door was obviously not strong enough. A few more hits to the door and it crumpled like so much tin. Prisoner 185A dashed out into the hallway and directly into Prisoners 379B and 504C

Prisoner 504C backed up as Prisoners 185A and 379B collided. "Just like old times, eh?"

Prisoner 379B crawled out form underneath Prisoner 185A and stood up "Shut up, Glide."

Prisoner 504C, or Glide, grinned as he replied "You're just upset because you have nothing over me anymore, Arra."

Prisoner 379B, or Arra, narrowed his eyes. "I told you to shut up, Glide…"

Glide ignored the threat and turned to prisoner 185A "You couldn't just stay put and wait for us, could you Crack?"

Crack turned to Arra "He really can't shut up, can he?"

Arra shook his head no as the three turned and raced back down the hallway.


	3. Escape?

G.U.N Maximum security Prison  
Location unknown  
A level  
7:47 AM

The three prisoners had just turned a corner on the top level of the compound and were now racing back towards the elevator in relative silence. Arra was in front, being the fastest of the three, Crack behind him, and Glide further back, simply trying to keep up with the others. When they finally reached it and pressed the down button, they were forced to take pause and wait. The three looked at one another. They were not the same three criminals they were before they had been captured.

Each one was older, their aging features magnified both by the relative difference and as a side-effect of the amniotic fluids they had been in for the past two years. Arra, a pangolin, had lost quite a bit of luster in the armored plates that covered his entire backside. Crack, a ram, was moving with a bit less of his usual power. And glide, a flying lizard, had not spread his wing-like gills in two years and when he did, they had been some tearing.

It was also a different world than it had been two years ago. There were new technologies, new governments, new obstacles. They had been transferred over ten times to compounds all around the world. They had no idea where they were or what they were doing. Not that that ever made much difference to them.

Their train of thought stopped as the elevator doors opened and the three pressed themselves against the walls by the doors. Nothing had come out of the door yet, which meant it was either empty, or whoever was inside knew where they were. The latter was confirmed as rounds were fired through the wall and penetrated directly above Arra's head.

The pangolin's mind raced. This was a prison. The walls were armored and, unless technology had changed much, weapons with armor-piercing rounds couldn't be operated manually. And no G.U.N. soldier would fire blindly into a wall. Whatever fired on them had to know they were there. It would have to be able to see through walls and fire armor-piercing weapons. A robot, then.

His suspicions were confirmed as the security robot clambered forth from within the elevator and opened fire upon the would-be fugitives. Arra, being the only one in the line of fire at the time, instinctively curled up into a ball and rolled forward and through the robot's legs. Usually, his plates would block most kinds of bullets, but armor-piercers and those fired at close range would tear right into him. The robot turned and followed Arra with its eyes. It was about to fire when Crack rammed into it's left leg, causing the leg to dent and the robot to falter. Crack smiled as he heard the familiar sound of metal crunching against his horns. It reminded him of the good old days.

Glide took the opportunity to do what he enjoyed most. Annoying. He flapped his arms and flew up to and around the robot's head, occaisinally scratching and kicking. The robot, not being programmed to process that amount of data, began frantically attempting to fire at Glide, but not at himself, needless to say, he failed. Glide eventually darted out of the way and landed just as Crack leapt up into the air and slammed Arra, still a ball, down onto the robot's head, crumpling it as if it were an aluminum can. Glide turned to the others as they landed, "Took your good sweet time about it didn't you?"

Crack and Arra turned to the flying lizard and said in unison "Shut up, Glide."

Glide ignored them as he went to go into the elevator, finding that it had already closed and locked. He stopped and turned to the others, opening his mouth to speak.

Arra interrupted "Come on, there are more of them coming…" and curled up into a ball and rolled down the hallway.

Glide immediately turned and followed the pangolin, trusting him completely. Crack was a bit more stubborn and chose to stay put until he saw some actual robots. It wasn't long before he believed, as a bullet caught him in one of the horns and he chased after the others.

G.U.N. Maximum security prison  
Location unknown  
A level Labs  
7:54 AM

After being chased down a hallway by a squadron of security robots, the three prisoners were not keen on continuing the chase until they were caught. They had reached the compound's laboratories, a place none of them were comfortable being in. The place itself was a series of beds, both medicinal and otherwise, surrounded by cabinets filled with chemicals and supplies. Various empty stasis tubes and things the three couldn't even begin to describe lined the walls. Aside from these things, the labs were empty.

Crack noticed this as he walked along the all too familiar beds and asked the others "Where is everybody?"

"I don't know… makes it easier for us, though…" Replied the pangolin as he moved towards the other end of the labs.

"Yeah… this is easy…" noted Glide.

It was at that precise moment that an explosive proton charge collided with the north corner of the prison compound, directly above the labs. The resulting shockwave sent Crack, Glide, and Arra into unconsciousness. And they had just woken up, too.


	4. Capture

Egg Crawler  
Location unknown  
8:30 AM

Today had not been a total waste. Although Eggman had failed at his attack on the G.U.N compound, he had managed to pick up something that could prove useful. It had been quite the morning.

Outside G.U.N Maximum Security Prison  
Location unknown  
7:40 AM

Eggman had been itching to test out his latest weapon and, since he had intercepted documents stating that there was a new weapon being developed at this particular G.U.N base, it only followed that he should attack here.

The Egg Crawler was an entirely new kind of base. It was, essentially, a giant dome with a tail-like appendage, forming a teardrop shape from above. It didn't run on wheels, rather it used a series of spinning discs covering the underside of the dome. These discs had hover pads in the center of them, enabling the Crawler to move in any direction easily and quickly. The tail had jets all along its sides, used when the Crawler had to turn quickly or move faster.

The body of the Crawler was a fully armed exterior for the veritable city of a base inside. It had thousands of different weapons, ranging from small chain guns to the massive frontal laser cannon, all of which could be retracted into the hull of the Crawler, making it completely impervious to nearly any kind of attack.

The crawler came up over the horizon towards the Compound. Eggman, sitting behind the controls, opened fire upon the prison. He continued on towards the compound, ignoring the security turrets as they fired at his creation. One by one, the entire staff of soldiers began pouring out of the building, fully armed and ready. Eggman ignored them and continued firing upon the well-armored facility as the men began firing all manner of weapons upon him. They might as well have been tossing stones. Security robots followed after and began firing armor-piercing rounds. These managed to scratch the outside of the Crawler when they ricocheted off. Eggman, in turn, was having just as much luck with the prison walls. He switched to one of his proton cannons and fired at the front of the building, obliterating a good chunk of the building. His attention was drawn for a moment to his long-range sensors. There was a large number of G.U.N Tankbusters, machines designed to break through tough armor. They were calling in the cavalry.

Eggman didn't want to go toe to toe with G.U.N, he decided it was time to finish this. He forwarded power to the frontal laser cannon and began firing preparations. Just as he was about to fire, a G.U.N soldier fired a weapon, launching a strange, capsule-like projectile at the cannon. Eggman ignored it. The cannon could handle explosives. When the power levels had reached firing capabilities, he pressed the button.

Suddenly, electrical discharge spread across the Crawler's hull. Luckily for Eggman, he had built in electrical absorption devices. But this was wrong. The only thing that could create that amount of power was a bolt of lightning, and it wasn't even cloudy out. Eggman paused. There was something else. His cannon. He ran a check of the cannon and found something troubling. The cannon was gone. Eggman didn't have time to find out why as the Tankbusters were nearing. Retreat was his only option now. But he wasn't going to leave empty-handed. He turned towards the destroyed section of the facility and headed towards it. If his schematics were right, these were the labs. Perhaps something could be salvaged. He opened a hatch and drove into the building, causing the entire laboratories to be driven inside said hatch. When he had reached the end of the labs, he shut the hatch and fled, having stolen part of the compound.

Egg Crawler  
Location unknown  
8:31 AM

Eggman had managed to get far enough away in the last thirty minutes to avoid detection and now was inspecting the remains of his stolen laboratories. He hadn't found anything of real value yet, just chemicals and some scrap metal for him. He looked around the ruined room and ordered the robots that had been searching the place (A task no future ruler of the world would do himself) to search under a pile of debris. After a few minutes of lifting away the debris, Eggman caught sight of something he didn't expect. There was a body underneath the pile. Alive but unconscious. Further examination revealed two more bodies. He expected bodies of doctors or scientists, but not a pangolin, a ram, and a flying lizard. He ordered his robots to take the three away. He smiled to himself as he began hatching another one of his plans.

Egg crawler  
Location unknown  
9:03 AM

Arra opened his eyes and looked around him. He swore under his breath. This was the second time today he woke up inside a stasis tube. He looked to his left and right and saw his still sleeping companions inside the neighboring tubes. For a second he thought that their escape had all been a dream. But he didn't dream. He looked around the room. It looked like they had been tossed into a storage facility filled with tubes. A great deal of them contained various different androids, the rest were empty save for theirs. These were standard-issue. They couldn't hold him. He was about to roll into a ball when a jolt of electricity rippled across his skin. He grunted in pain as the door to the room slid open and a very odd-shaped man entered.

The man walked up to Arra's tube and said "Trying to escape, eh? Don't waste your energy…" He pressed a button on the wall and the same shock rippled through all three tubes, painfully waking the others. "Now pay attention…"

The strange man continued "Take a good look at this." He took a yellow crystal out from inside his coat and showed it to the captives.

Arra, Crack, and Glide looked at one another and said, or rather would have said if they could "A Chaos Emerald…"

"A Chaos Emerald! A gem with unlimited power! And there are six others just like it!" The man announced. "And you three… are going to get them for me!"

The three captives looked back at one another and then to the man. And even though they couldn't talk and could barely move, their response was a definite no.

The man smiled "Not very keen on serving me, eh? Well then, I suppose there's nothing I could do to change your mind…" he said as he began walking away. He then turned around and grinned maliciously as he pressed a button on the same wall panel.

Arra, Crack, and Glide doubled over in pain. But this pain didn't come from the same place as the previous pain. This came from seemingly everywhere inside them all at once. The three looked to one another, wincing in pain until the man repressed the same button as before and the pain stopped.

"Behold my latest invention! The Nano-eggs! There is one inside each of you. A press of this button will do that. But a press of this button…" He motioned towards a black button underneath the one he had pressed before. "This button will cut off your brain functions to the rest of your bodies, killing you all instantly."

Eggman smiled as his newest servants reluctantly were forced into his service. He turned to the wall panel and input the command to open the tubes. The three stepped out of their respective stasis tubes and turned towards their new master. He pointed towards the open door. "Now go, get me the emeralds!"

Arra looked at the man "Where do we go?"

Eggman ushered them out the door and out into a hallway. "That is none of my concern…" and he shut the door.

Arra, Crack, and Glide were left alone in the hallway. A door at the far end opened and the light of day poured in. The three looked at one another, smiled, and raced out of the door. Things were back to normal.


	5. Expert

G.U.N Headquarters  
Location Classified  
Briefing Room  
10:00 AM

Lieutenant Herez paced back and forth across the Briefing Room. He sighed to himself. Fifteen years working here and he was still briefing field agents. He felt like he was stuck in this job. His coworkers continued to get promoted before him and he was always left behind. If only he had listened to his mother and been a pharmacist…

He had gotten word minutes ago of a definite code 004 and a code 087 as well as a possible code 265. Herez had to laugh at himself. He didn't even think in words anymore. Just codes. Fifteen years in the same old job will do that to you. He didn't like that about himself. He was too good at his job. Probably why his commanding officers hadn't promoted him. He repeated his thought to himself in layman's terms. There had been an attack on a G.U.N facility and two or more dangerous criminals had escaped. And it was possible that secure information had been taken by a potentially dangerous threat. And this all happened while he had been out at breakfast.

There was one thing he liked about being a briefing officer. He got as much information on all missions as all the agents. And so, while he didn't know everything, he knew quite a bit. He had been given information that stated, and gave exact reasons why there was a critical need for all the Chaos Emeralds to be secured. And since G.U.N researchers still had not been able to find out enough information about the Chaos Emeralds to build a database, mostly due to the fact that the researchers had not been able to get their hands on a Chaos emerald for long enough to do so, no G.U.N agent was truly suitable for the job. And so he had called in an expert on jewels and, more specifically, the Chaos Emeralds.

Herez looked up as the door slid open and his expert came inside. He had only worked with Unofficial agent 307 on three occaisons. And he regretted each. "Hello, Rouge… please sit down…" He said as he motioned for the bat to sit. When she had seated, Herez began. "This morning, one of our facilities was attacked by a certain doctor, I think you are familiar with him…"

"Eggman, yeah I know him…" She replied with her usual air of apathy.

Herez ignored the interruption "During the attack on the facility, three of our most dangerous prisoners escaped. Also, we fear some important information may have been lost. We don't know if it was taken by Doctor Eggman, by the fugitives, or destroyed."

"And you want me to get back your lost documents. Got ya…" The batgirl replied, standing up to leave.

Herez stopped her "No, actually, we have reason to believe that in this situation, the best course of action is to retrieve and secure the Chaos Emeralds. That's where you come in."

Rouge smiled to herself "The Chaos Emeralds, eh? Alright… I'll take the job."

Herez stood and began ushering her out. "We'll keep in touch. And, time is of the essence, so get them back to us, by any means necessary."

Rouge waved the comment away as she walked out of sight, leaving Herez with a feeling that he would come to regret this arrangement as well.

Angel Island  
10:58 AM

Rouge was glad she had gotten picked for this job. Even though she didn't like the bad pay. She was glad for the fact that they had not picked some agent who would undoubtedly fail. They had called in an expert, and that's what they got. She had an extensive knowledge on the Chaos Emeralds and she knew, from experience, that if they were all gathered together, there was a good chance of something bad happening. And if that did come to pass, she would need a way out. And the only thing she could think of that could stop the Chaos Emeralds was, of course, the Master Emerald. She needed to borrow it, but she would have a hard time of doing so.

She had just stepped foot on angel island, which, as she knew, wasn't much more than the altar that stood upon it. That, along with the Master Emerald and its guardian. She walked up the steps to the Master Emerald and greeted the guardian "Still busy guarding that thing? Why don't you give it a rest?"

The red echidna looked up "If I did that, you would've taken it just now… what do you want? Because if it's the Master Emerald, you can just turn around."

Rouge pouted. This is exactly what she expected from him… "No, actually, I just came to ask for some help, if you don't mind."

Knuckles stood and asked cautiously "What is it?"

"If you must know, Doctor Eggman is after the Chaos Emeralds again… I just thought you should know, seeing as how you and your friends are always trying to stop him. And I was sort of wondering if you knew how I might find the Emeralds…" Rouge lied. She didn't know who was after the Chaos Emeralds, and she already had a good idea where most of them were.

Knuckles stood more alert. "Fine. I'll try and help you find the Chaos Emeralds."

Rouge smiled. He was playing right into her hands. He was so gullible. It's what she liked about him. "Thanks, and you can bring those friends of yours along if you must..." She said as she walked to the edge of the island and flew off. She turned to her left and picked up speed. She could get to the Master Emerald after she got a few of the Chaos Emeralds in her hands. She had thought about it and decided that she would hold onto the Emeralds until she found out what they were going to be used for. She had a funny feeling that this was going to turn ugly, and fast. And she felt it best that she had some collateral with her when it did...

END OF PROLOGUE


	6. Thieves

Easton Secure Deposit  
First Floor  
Security Booth  
9:59 PM

The Easton Secure Deposit was not a bank. Nobody put things away for free. The ESD, as it appeared on forms, was only for the rich and powerful. Here is where they could stow away valuables, family heirlooms, important documents, stolen items, severed hands; the ESD didn't care what you put in your Safety Deposit box so long as you paid the bill. And it was worth every penny, so long as you got their insurance policy. Banks would pay you the cash amount of any lost or damaged item you insured with them. The ESD guaranteed that whatever you put into the box, you would get out, even if it was stolen.

And the ESD didn't want that to happen. And that's why they employed men like Stefan Kirsch. Stefan was an ex-Russian military officer working as a security guard. He was good at his job, which was probably why he got it. The ESD hand-picked their employees. There was no interview process. That's because being an employee at the ESD was like no other job in the world.

Being a Security Guard was more then just sitting in the Security booth and watching monitors. There were monitors, true enough, but you were required to maintain the boxes as well as ensure that they stayed within strict parameters, set by the individual clients. To even get the job, you had to better trained than most military officers.

The Security booth in which Stefan sat was like no other in the world. It was, for one thing, not placed in the front of the building, like most others, it was placed in the exact center of the building, where the guards could get anywhere faster. The booth was lined with monitors, showing every facet of the building, in normal, inferred, and X-ray. There were no blind spots. And there were no possibilities of a guard missing anything. Whenever there was any sort of change on any screen, from a fly to a light turning off, it was immediately brought to the guards attention. Nobody had authorization to be in the building. Guards took one of three special hallways to move back and forth between the boxes and the lobby. Even they would set off the alarm if they passed in front of a camera. Unless you were a guard, there was no way into the Secure Deposit Room.

The Deposit room was a marvel of modern engineering. Each box was climate-controlled and set on gyros. If someone whispered near them, an alarm would go off. Every two minutes, the order of the boxes would shuffle, making it impossible to target a specific one. As if that was possible. The Room was a giant sphere, armored form all sides, eliminating any weak spots in the design. It was also a vacuum. The only air was inside the Boxes. And any motion that was not during the ten-second period of motion when the Boxes shuffled themselves was met with an immediate shot with a precision laser. A bullet could be fired inside the room and be disintegrated before hitting anything. The door to the room was a series of door set on the four layers of the sphere. When not opened, the doors were all shut and not near any of the other. When it was to open, the layers of the sphere would rotate around one another and the doors would line up, allowing entrance into the air-lock where boxes could be accessed remotely.

Stefan had just finished examining a light alteration in the second corridor when the digital clock in front of him turned to 10:00 PM and a light flashed. Time for a routine check of the corridors. He stood up and went to the door, opening it and stepping outside, just as his replacement went inside. He nodded to him, shut the door, and began his check. He went up one hallway, down another, and back up the third one. When he reached the third access terminal, he ran a diagnostic check of the Boxes. Everything was fine. He turned back down the third hallway, made another sweep of the long hallways, and went back to the Security booth. It had been thirty minutes, just as it was every time. Security guards only worked for two hours a day. He had 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM and 9:30 PM to 10:30PM. Certain guards only worked maintenance of the Boxes. He opened the door to the booth to check on his replacement before going home for the night. He opened the door to find his replacement missing. He probably just left for his check of the hallways early, but his military instincts told him to check on it. So he went to the cameras and found one that had been brought to an alarm. He looked at the monitors and narrowed his eyes. He set off the lockdown alarm and began the process to secure the Deposit. As he left, all monitors showed various scenes of the exact same figure racing around, and in the last one, the figure racing down one hallway carrying a Safety Deposit Box. The first successful robbery in the history of the ESD.

Easton Secure Deposit  
First floor  
Lobby  
10:14 PM

Rouge had spoken to a certain billionaire and rare jewel collector she had encountered during a very successful heist on her part. The collector had ownership of a Chaos Emerald and had chosen the ESD as it's holding place. Obviously he wasn't going t just hand it over to rouge. Or G.U.N. But Rouge managed to trade the jewels she had stolen that night for the code to the deposit box. And so she had come here for her Emerald.

The entire system, was automated, all she had to do was put in the code and a guard would bring her the box. She entered the code and… nothing. Nothing happened. A message came up on the screen:

Access Denied

She had been given a fake code. Normally she would get upset, had she not given him fake jewelry in exchange for said code. She turned away and thought for a moment before smiling and racing out the door. She knew how she could get her hands on the Emerald…

Easton Secure Deposit  
Outside  
10:00 PM

Arra looked around the outside of the massive sphere. It was time. He looked to Crack, next to him, and then to glide, fifty feet up, climbing the sphere. He nodded and pointed to the wall next to him. Crack grunted and charged towards it, crashing through the mortar and into the wall. He nodded to Arra and stepped out of the way as the pangolin leaped inside and ran through the electrical wiring and piping that filled the wall. He continued running until he reached where the sphere began. He followed the mass of wiring into a hole in the wall and began examining the wires. One of these went to the sphere and ran diagnostics on the sphere. He had to disconnect it if their plan was going to work. And it had to. He found a small wire running under the wall molding and into the hole. A clever ploy. He found that it connected to the sphere from under the molding as well. He smiled as he sliced through it with one of his bladed wrists. He knocked on the outside wall.

Outside, Crack heard the knock and waved to Glide, still up on the sphere. Glide had Been crawling around the outside, searching for the three doors built into each layer. He had brought along a red marker and drew a giant X over each door. He pressed his ear to the metal, searching for the innermost door, he rapped on the glass. Evolution had granted the Flying Lizard with incredible hearing. So great, in fact, that Glide was able to detect differences between the normal metal of the sphere and the thicker metal of the doors based on the sound bounced back by the thicknesses. Sort of a natural form of radar. Glide leapt off as the layers began to shift and landed just as the doors lined up.

Glide raced over to the wall and knocked again as Arra waited and listened for the guard to leave and for the first one of the doors to close. When it did so, Arra ripped out a wire, causing the two other doors not to close as the layers rotated back to their original position. Arra sighed as he knocked back on the wall. Glide heard it and flapped over to Crack, who grabbed onto the legs of the Flying Lizard. Glide flapped his arms and carried the ram up into the air. The two flapped over the massive sphere and over to the first red X. Glide carried Crack higher up in the air. The ram protested "Hey! This wasn't part of the plan! You know I don't like heights!"

Glide paused in mid-air. "The metal's too tough, you need more momentum." And then he dropped the ram twenty feet down to the sphere and soared down after him. The ram swore at Glide and then straightened his body as he dropped down upon the sphere, crashing through the metal door when striking it. He crawled out of the hole as Glide flew in, saying as he ducked into the tight space between layers, "Always said your skull was as thick as titanium…" Crack reached out for him, but he was too late. Glide reached out for something as Crack sighed and handed him a chunk of the destroyed metal and watched the annoyance slip back away.

Glide crawled through the space to where he remembered the X being. He soon found the first open door and he slipped inside. He found the next door in the same manner. He then lifted the piece of metal, nearly as large as himself, over him and leapt out of the door. He was now in the air lock layer. Now was the time for listening. Even though the process took a while, he managed to reach every laser and smash it in from the outside with the chunk of titanium. Once he was satisfied that all had been disabled, He grabbed the chunk of titanium and began ramming it into the metal beneath him. Even though he wasn't very strong, all he had to do was dent it. The vacuum did the rest. Glide leapt aside as the dent became a crater with the resulting force. Once the room had depressurized, Glide leapt down and selected amongst the hundreds of Boxes, a single one. He then tossed it through the windows of one of the access terminals and flew back through his hole.

During all of this, Arra had managed to disable the alarm system and had entered the Security booth and subdued the guard, tossing his unconscious body inside the wall, along with the wires. This took him about five minutes. He took pride in his speed. He managed to race back to the access terminal and catch the Safety Box just as it was being thrown through the window. He then turned away and bolted back down the hallway, into the wall, and then back outside, meeting up with Glide and Crack.

Glide smiled "Nice catch… could've ran faster…"

Arra shoved the box at the Flying Lizard "Shut up, Glide…"And raced off, the other two thieves behind him.


	7. Good guys

Egg Crawler  
Location Unknown  
Main Chamber  
12:00 AM

Arra lifted the black Safety Deposit Box up and tossed onto the table in front if Eggman. "Your prize, doctor."

Eggman examined the box, unconvinced. "How can you be so sure?"

Arra looked to Crack and nodded. Crack nodded back and picked up the box, crushing it against his horns. He reached into the hole he had made and took out a Chaos Emerald. He tossed it at Eggman and narrowed his eyes. "Very funny."

Eggman took the Chaos Emerald in his hands and examined it, smiling evilly as he did so. He then handed it over to one of his robots, who in turn raced off with it. He then turned back to his unwilling servants. "What are you still doing here? You have five more Emeralds to get! Go! Go! Go!"

Arra Crack and Glide turned away and left through the same door, leaving Eggman alone in the chamber. The doctor turned and left himself, crossing to a secure door on the other end. He typed in the password and entered as the door slid open and closed behind him. He stepped into the next room, harboring a massive device. It consisted of a massive central chamber attached to the surrounding seven smaller chambers. Each chamber was attached to a large computer the processed the constant data. The computer was currently focused upon a smaller collection chamber connected to the central chamber. Eggman went up to the computer and typed in a few commands, switching focus to the outer chambers. Six were shown at empty, the seventh at full power. The power source was labeled as Chaos1. Eggman then continued off to an empty chamber. He grasped his fingers around a metal hatch and pulled it open as he placed the Chaos Emerald inside and into a Chaos Emerald-shaped indentation in the slot. Lights across the outside of the chamber lit up as the computer showed the same chamber reaching full power and a new power source appearing, labeled Chaos2.

Eggman went over to a metal chamber and input a password, causing the metal door to swing free, revealing the shelves inside, lined with various metal capsules. He took one out and weighed it in his hands. It was identical to the one that G.U.N soldiers had fired upon his cannon, making it disappear. He shut the metal door and brought it over to the small collection chamber attached to the central chamber. He placed the capsule into the chamber and locked it in place. Once he had secured it, he crossed back over to the computer and input a command. He selected Chaos1 and Chaos2 and hit the "Execute" key. The levels of chambers 1 and 2 dropped for about a minute before rising back to normal as the capsule's levels filled. Eggman smiled and went back to the capsule, removing it and placing it into one of three slots at the far end of the room, one of which already had a capsule in it. Above the slots was printed:

Main Power

Eggman then turned and left the room. He was not one to be surpassed by anyone. If G.U.N had found a way to weaponize his creation, he was going to do them one better.

G.U.N Ocean Base 8  
Coordinates 36'W, 36'N  
Landing Strip  
10:00 AM

The G.U.N Ocean Base 8 had not been used for the past ten years. It was old, bulky, and thoroughly obsolete. The only reason G.U.N hadn't scrapped it or sank it was that it still served some purpose. When small G.U.N planes flew across the ocean, they would normally have to travel over the smallest stretch of ocean possible, meaning traveling either far south or far north to ensure that one would not run out of fuel in the middle of the ocean. But the location of Ocean Base 8 was such that it made for a perfect half-way mark. Smaller planes could cross the ocean, land on the floating base, refuel from the still-active fueling ports on board, and be on their way. One of the greatest G.U.N bases in history, reduced to a gas station. That was progress for you.

But today, Ocean Base 8 would serve a greater purpose. Lieutenant Herez, thanks to a message along the anonymous tip system signed Rouge the Bat, had searched through the G.U.N database, or as much as he was authorized to, and found an interesting article about the S.S. Gambit. The Gambit was one in a line of identical boats used by the Cross-Waters Shipping lanes (Which, as fate would have it, was actually created by a Mr. Cross and a Mr. Waters, but that is beside the point.) The Gambit was only in the newspaper because of an accident on-board resulting in the ship sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Which would not concern anyone but the lawyers at Cross-Waters, had it not been for one important piece of cargo that had been on board. None other than a Chaos Emerald. And it had crashed not more than two miles from none other then Ocean Base 8.

It is for this reason that Rouge, this time along with Knuckles, Tails, and Sonic, had all come to Ocean Base 8 on a rather crowded Tornado. Rouge sat at one of the communication terminals, waiting for a response, being watched closely and untrustingly by Knuckles. And sonic was running laps around the landing strip, as was normal for him. Sonic didn't idle well. And there really wasn't much to do until Tails called in.

Coordinates 36'W, 36'N  
Ocean floor

10:04 AM

When they had come to Ocean Base 8, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails had all been assured by Rouge that there were still some operational submarines and they could all use them to reach the Gambit. But, having come from Rouge, it was not entirely accurate. What they had found was a tiny, one-man submersible, used to collect rock samples. And, being the resident pilot, Tails had been volunteered to go and get the Chaos Emerald. As he sank down to the sea floor, with a single jet to control him, he thought to himself just how much he was not enjoying himself. His specialty was air, not water. And he didn't too much enjoy the idea of a leak in the tin can he was riding in occurring and the pressure crushing him. He had reached the ocean floor, rather abruptly at that when he called in his position on the com-link. "I'm down here and I see the ship. I'm gong in."

A crackly reply came from the other end. "Good job! Now go and fetch me my Emerald!"

"Your Emerald? What do you mean, you Emerald?"

"Oh, sorry about that, I mean THE Emerald. Go and fetch me THE Emerald, then. Sheesh."

Tails had to smile as he set the com-link down and he set the jet to forward. He shot forward towards the ruined ship. It had been transformed by nature into a coral reef. Fish swam to and fro amongst the kelp and iron. Such a peaceful scene it was that the submersible crashed through to get inside. Tails braced himself as he did so. He knew that he would crash through easily, but that didn't make him feel better about doing it. Once inside, it was a simple matter to locate the Chaos Emerald in the cargo hold. It hadn't even been inside a box. Tails extended one of the arms towards the Emerald and clamped down on it, pulling it into the tiny hatch used for rock storage. Once he had gotten it, he turned around and turned on the jet, leaving through the same hole he had made to get inside. But this time wasn't so fortunate.

When tails had burst through the weak metal of the ship, he had bent the metal inwards, such as metal behaved. And this meant that the hole was outlined with inward-facing spikes. It was one of these upon which Tails caught the submersible when exiting, creating a tiny tear in the hull. Tails was alerted to this dangerous state when he heard a hissing sound coming from the top of the craft, accompanied by a spray of water. Now, you didn't have to be a genius to know what was going on, but it helped. He frantically set the thrust to up and tried to cheat death as the ship neared depressurization. Just another day on the job.

With only a few yards to go, the ship crumpled inward and water rushed inside. Tails panicked, but only for a second. That was all the time he could allot to panicking. Tails frantically thought of a way out of his current situation. Being a genius helped him in this case. Somewhat not as smart would have sat there and thought of a way to plug the hole. But Tails was smart enough to realize that in a few seconds, the submersible was going to be crumpled like an aluminum can. And the fact that his head had not imploded upon itself meant that he was near the surface. And so the fox crawled out of the hole that had been made and made a break for it. Using his twin tails as a propeller, much like he did when running, he swam frantically to the surface. He swam and swam, becoming more and more fatigued as he did so. His body, starved for oxygen, moved slower with each stroke. He could see the sunlight hit the waves just as he began to see black in the corners of his eyes. He gave it one last stroke before he couldn't go further without a breath. And even though he was two yards under water, he still had to do it. And so, as he swam upwards, his body took over as his mouth opened and sucked salt water into his lungs. He forced it out of his lungs just as he breached the water's surface. The next breath he took he had to cough back up. But the one after that went down. H was breathing as he paddled towards the floating base. He managed to climb aboard the surface and look at his friends, who were helping him on board, before passing out.

Sonic looked down at his unconscious friend. He was okay, but they still had no idea what had happened to his craft, or the Emerald. Rouge put her hands on her hips and looked around. "Where's my Emerald?" She demanded.

She was soon met with an answer as the remains of the craft, being the rock hatch, bobbed up on the surface of the water. She smiled as she turned and leapt off the landing strip as Sonic and Knuckles carried Tails off. Knuckles looked at the jewel-obsessed bat and shook his head. "Why is she like that?" he asked.

Sonic looked at his friend confounded. "She never changes…" The two then turned away from Rouge and back around. They stopped short, startled by the soaking wet flying lizard, pangolin, and ram that had just appeared before them.

The pangolin, apparently the leader, stepped forward and looked down upon Sonic. "Give us the Emerald."


	8. Defeat

G.U.N Ocean Base 8  
Coordinates 36'W, 36'N  
Landing Strip  
10:05 AM

Sonic and Knuckles, still holding up the unconscious fox, looked to one another before turning back to the pangolin who had demanded the Chaos Emerald. There was a long, awkward pause before Sonic answered. "Umm… Who are you guys?"

They would receive no satisfactory answer as the ram stepped forward and thrust his horns at the blue hedgehog. Sonic instinctively let go of Tails and leapt out of the way, barely missing Crack. Luckily, Sonic was holding onto Tails' feet at the time. Once Sonic landed, Crack turned and charged again. The hedgehog was ready this time, and he leapt forward and onto the ram's horns as he passed underneath. The two then became embroiled in a rodeo-style rampage around the landing strip, Crack trying to buck the hedgehog off.

The bizarre scene took the attention of Arra, Glide, and Knuckles, who was the first to turn away. He delivered a punch to the jaw of the flying lizard, causing him to fall backwards. He then turned to his left and found himself staring down the business-end of one of the pangolin's wrist blades.

The echidna froze, his fighting training telling him that he could do nothing in this situation. He was up against a wall, a blade in his face, carrying a fox in his arms. He was totally at the pangolin's mercy. Which, as he was soon to learn, was non-existent. The pangolin reared back and thrust his fist forward at the echidna.

A pink boot to the head knocked Arra off balance, causing his fist to miss Knuckles' head and hit the wall behind him instead. Rouge used the momentum from her kick to leap backwards and land by Knuckles. The relieved and somewhat bewildered echidna looked from the two disabled foes to the jewel thief. "Why did you do that?" It was true that Rouge had in her hands the Chaos Emerald as she watched the two get attacked and that she could have easily left with it.

"You're welcome by the way." She retorted as she turned away. Arra had regained his stance and narrowed his eyes at the new arrival. He lunged forward at the bat and slashed at her with one of the blades attached to his wrists. Rouge gasped and attempted to back up quickly, resulting in her tripping backwards over her own feet and being caught in the arms of the echidna. She looked up at him for a moment before regaining her composure and standing to face Arra.

Knuckles faced the pangolin, brandishing his fists. Normally, he wouldn't hesitate to throw a punch, but there was something terribly unsettling about this pangolin. In the back of the red echidna's mind, he wondered how they had gotten here, how they knew that they had the Chaos Emerald, and just why they wanted it. But he rarely went to that place in his mind during a fight. Instead, what was most unsettling was the fact that the pangolin didn't looks worried at all. He wasn't even in a fighting stance. In fact, he was smiling. He was outnumbered and outmatched.

And he was smiling.

Knuckles was soon to learn exactly why Arra had been smiling. Directly behind the echidna and bat hovered Glide. And he took no hesitation in grabbing Knuckles, obviously the larger threat, and using his own momentum to hurl the surprised foe several feet away and then give chase.

Knuckles skidded across the metal before stopping himself by digging his fists into the deck. He stood, just a little annoyed at being bested, and, when Glide had neared enough, slammed the flying lizard into the iron deck with a fist.

Meanwhile, Rouge had looked away, giving Arra the opportunity to slash at her again with a blade, this time cutting into her left shoulder. The bat, now both shocked and angry, turned to face her opponent. Arra glanced at his two companions and then to Rouge. None of them had the Emerald with them. The Emerald was twenty feet above them. And a prolonged fight wasn't necessary. He was going to finish this.

The pangolin curled up into a ball and then shot upwards at Rouge, slamming her into the wall. On a normal day, Rouge would never had let that happen. But today was shaping up to be anything but normal, as was her opponent. She had seen Shadow and Sonic curl up into balls before, but this was completely different. Whoever she was fighting was seemingly able to move himself in literally any direction while curled up in a ball, including straight up. She was still in shock from the new maneuver when she realized that she was no longer being pinned to the wall. Rouge stepped forward and looked around her for a moment, not finding him. Then she had a thought and looked above her. There, rolling up the wall, was the pangolin. She leapt backwards as the ball detached itself and fell upon her. She managed to avoid the impact, but rather than stopping after a ten-foot fall in ball form, the mysterious foe continued rolling towards her. She backed up, kicking at the ball, causing no damage. It didn't even falter. She knew that, inevitably, she would be slammed up against the wall again if she didn't do something. And so she flapped her wings and flew upwards.

During all of this, Sonic and Crack had gotten nowhere fast with their struggle, and so one of them was forced to make a change in their approach. And it wasn't Sonic. Sonic had always done pretty much the same thing, and it had served him well. Run, jump, run, roll, run. But Crack had, very unwillingly, been forced in the past to change his approach, sometimes being very painful and sometimes very unnatural. And so it was the ram who made the first real blow to the other. Rather than bucking around, the ram leapt into the air. Sonic was surprised at how high he could jump, but even more surprised when he was thrown over the ram's horn as Crack descended into a headfirst dive into the metal. Unfortunately for Sonic, even the hedgehog's reflexes were not fast enough to avoid being crushed between the metal and the horns, which were perhaps harder. More than one thing dented as Sonic's body gave up and unconsciousness took over.

On the other end of the base, Glide had barely gotten out of the way of the echidna's massive fist by diving to the right. Despite the circumstances, he smiled to himself. This sort of thing always gave him such a rush. That was part of the reason he had been captured by G.U.N in the first place. Knuckles was faster then he looked, the flying lizard had to give him credit for that. But Glide was able to stay out of his reach, waiting, just as he always did, for his opponent to falter. And falter he did. Knuckles punches had a way of shifting his momentum and carrying him forward, and so every so often, when delivering a sting of punches, he had to regain his balance by throwing and uppercut. It was just his style. Sadly, the Uppercut put too much space between his feet and his fists. And Glide dove for him. The flying lizard grabbed onto the red echidna's legs and then continued forward, causing Knuckles to flip upside down, being held aloft a foot off the ground by Glide. The flying lizard took his opponent's gasp as a sure sign to flap higher with his free arm until they were a good distance up.

And so, for the third time today, Knuckles found himself in an awkward position. He was up in the air. He was in his opponent's element. And even though he himself could glide, he knew that he would be helpless from above while doing so. And so he tried to think of what to do. He did not receive much time, as Glide had grabbed on with both arms and flung Knuckles around in a circle, using his opponent's momentum, as was his style, to throw the echidna to the ground. Knuckles barely had time to notice what was happening before his head struck metal and he was knocked out cold.

Rouge had reached the top of the wall and reached into an indentation for the rock hatch in which the Emerald still lay. She still had a job to do. She felt around for it. She gasped and looked inside. It was gone. She looked up, directly at the box, and the pangolin holding it. She narrowed her eyes. "How did you…?" She never finished that sentence, as Arra delivered a swift kick to the head, knocking her out. It was more or less payback.

A minute later, Arra, and Crack were standing at the far end of the base, looking at the destruction they caused. Three unconscious foes. Not bad. They turned and looked as Glide flapped his way over to them.

Arra turned and said "Did you set the charge?" as he rubbed the side of his head.

"Of course I did…" Glide responded. Then he noticed his companion's pain and laughed. "Get kicked in the head by a girl, eh?"

Arra turned away. "Shut up, Glide."

The three then silently disappeared in a bright white flash.

Three minutes later, G.U.N Ocean Base 8 exploded in a firey inferno.

G.U.N Ocean Base 8  
Coordinates 36'W, 36'N  
Landing Strip  
Three and a half minutes ago

Tails, still tucked away underneath the overhang where Knuckles had put him, opened his eyes as he heard talking.

"Did you set the charge"

"Of course I did… Get kicked in the head by a girl, eh?"

"Shut up, Glide."

Then a flash of light brought the fox to full alertness. What had just happened. Where was the Emerald. He looked around. What he saw disturbed him. Rouge, Knuckles, and Sonic were all unconscious and laying around the deck. Tails was going to rush to help them when something came to his attention. "Charge?" He said to himself. And then it hit him.

Ocean Base 8 had been used by G.U.N as a place for tiny planes to stop and reload, essentially a gas station. This meant that the only thing that was being stored on Ocean Base 8 was fuel. They were on a floating powder keg. And any sort of explosive charge would completely obliterate the base. Tails didn't know this. None of them did. Glide had just set the explosive charge to knock out the power. All Tails knew was that they were in danger. And he had no time to save them. Just another day when you hang around with Sonic. Tails raced over to the Tornado, checked the systems, made sure the charge was not attached to the plane, then raced back over to the others. He dragged Sonic to the edge of the base and hefted his friend into the plane. He proceeded to do the same with Knuckles and Rouge. He climbed into the cockpit and started the ignition. He would normally have gone through pre-flight procedure, but there was an explosion coming. He pulled back on the yoke and piloted the plane across the deck, taking off ten feet before the edge.

And then G.U.N Ocean Base 8 exploded in a firey inferno.

The resulting force shot pieces of shrapnel twice the size of the Tornado in all directions. One such chunk of the landing strip collided with the back of the Tornado, causing the tail to rip off and the rest of it, as well as it's four occupants, to fall into the waters below.


End file.
